The pilot gave Hammer a thumbs up. He unsealed the hatch above, disrupting the pervasive silence inside the Resolution with the roar of two planes thousands of feet in the air. Above them was a rope ladder and ten feet of space between the Resolution and the Indianational.

Hammer snapped his breathing mask on and turned to Guppy. “Go!”

It took a moment for Guppy to realize Hammer was addressing him. He snapped on his own mask, unbuckled himself and began making the rapid crawl up to the aircraft’s bottom entry hatch.

Suddenly, red lights flashed around the edges of the tube near the hatch of both planes and a low, urgent beeping barely pierced the screaming wind outside.

Hammer shouted from below, “We’re hitting turbulence!”

Guppy hooked his cistron up to the cargo bay door. He tapped furiously on it. There were safeguards in place that would alert the pilot to an open door, especially when in mid-air.

The beeping became more insistent.

“We’re losing the seal!” shouted Hammer. “What the hell are you doing up there?”

“I’m working as fast as I can!” shouted Guppy. “It doesn’t help when you yell—“